Magical Mystery Tour (album)
| Magical Mystery Tour | |||||
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| Studio album (EP in the UK) by The Beatles |
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| Released | November 27, 1967 (LP) December 8, 1967 (EP) |
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| Recorded | Abbey Road 1966-11-24 – 1966-12-21 ("Strawberry Fields Forever") and 1966-12-29 – 1967-01-17 ("Penny Lane") Abbey Road and Olympic Sound Studios 25 April 1967 – 7 November 1967 (double EP, rest of LP side 2) |
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| Genre | Psychedelic rock | ||||
| Length | 36:52 (LP, CD) 19:12 (EP) |
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| Label | Parlophone, Capitol | ||||
| Producer | George Martin | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
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| The Beatles US chronology | |||||
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| Alternate cover | |||||
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Original double EP sleeve
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| Alternate cover | |||||
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1971 German MMT LP with every track in true stereo
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Magical Mystery Tour is the name of the 6-song double EP and 11-song album by the English rock band The Beatles, first released in late 1967. It is the soundtrack to a one-hour television film that was originally aired, in black and white, in the UK in 1967. Initially released as a double EP in the UK, the recording was expanded to a full album on subsequent U.S. release, adding several recent singles to the B-side. This has since been adopted by Apple and EMI when the Beatles' discography was being put on Compact Disc, and is the only US release of theirs to do so.
While the songs on the EP proved popular, critical and popular response to the television film proved negative. Plans to air it on ABC television in the U.S. were cancelled, and Magical Mystery Tour was first shown in the United States only in a special showing as a fundraiser for the Liberation News Service in 1968. This was held at the Fillmore East in New York City. There was no other showing in the U.S. until 1974, as a theatrical release on the midnight movies and college circuits, both of which were mainly underground.
Contents |
History of the project
Magical Mystery Tour film
After Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Paul McCartney wanted to create a film based upon the Beatles and their music. The film was to be unscripted: various "ordinary" people (including John Lennon's uncle Charlie) were to travel on a charabanc bus and have unspecified "magical" adventures, in the manner of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters.
The Magical Mystery Tour movie was made, but the hoped-for "magical" adventures never happened. During the filming, an ever greater number of cars followed the hand-lettered bus, hoping to see what its passengers were up to, until a running traffic jam developed. The spectacle ended after Lennon angrily tore the lettering off the sides of the bus.
Magical Mystery Tour was the first Beatles film project following the death of manager Brian Epstein in August 1967, and there has been much speculation that the absence of Epstein's judgement contributed to its undisciplined production, as seen, for instance, in the absence of a screenplay and professional direction. The film originally appeared twice on BBC-TV over the 1967 Christmas holidays (primarily in black and white), but was savaged by critics on its release[1]; it was, however, noted by Steven Spielberg in film school (according to McCartney in one of the interviews for The Beatles Anthology: "I've read that people like him have sort of said, 'When I was in school that was a film we really took notice of...' like an art film, you know, rather than a proper film.)
Film soundtrack
The movie's soundtrack was far more favourably received, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for best album in 1968.[2] and reached number 1 in the U.S for eight weeks. It was released in the UK in December 1967 as a double EP. The American version was released in late November 1967 as an LP; its cover depicts the EP's artwork in an orange border, with a list of song titles above it. Capitol Records released Magical Mystery Tour as full-length album because EPs were not as popular in the US as they were in the UK. The Magical Mystery Tour LP was divided into two halves: The first side was the film soundtrack, and the second side was a collection of A- and B-sides released in 1967.
Side one
The first side (containing the same songs as the British EP, but in a different running order), is a prime example of music from the psychedelic era, opening with the grandly rollicking title track, followed by McCartney's wistful "The Fool on the Hill"; "Flying", one of only two commercially released Beatles instrumentals up until that time (the first being the very early, and often forgotten Harrison-Lennon composition "Cry for a Shadow"); "Blue Jay Way", an evocative mood piece by George Harrison; and the nostalgic "Your Mother Should Know."
Rounding out side one, "I Am the Walrus" — full of crashing orchestrations and dubbed vocals — is one of the Beatles' more startling, avant-garde creations. The lyrics, filled with maddening juxtapositions of words and phrases, were Lennon's sardonic response to learning that an English master at his alma mater, Quarry Bank Grammar School, was requiring his students to analyse Beatles songs. Lennon was particularly inspired by Alice in Wonderland during this period and the title comes from "The Walrus and the Carpenter".
Side two
The songs on side two were the band's non-album singles from the period. To keep to its release schedule, Capitol Records used a stereo simulator on the monaural master tapes of the last three songs, rather than waiting for the stereo tapes to be sent over from Britain. Even so, the seemingly random choice of songs showed the band at its creative peak.
Side two is anchored by two starkly contrasting, semi-autobiographical songs: Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" and McCartney's "Penny Lane". Originally released as a double A-side single, Lennon's "Strawberry Fields" was a surreal account of childhood memories, while McCartney's "Penny Lane" was more light-hearted. Both songs were recorded at the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper sessions, but had been left off that album, a decision that producer George Martin later regretted.[3]
The remaining tracks on side two include McCartney's counter (and A-side) to "I Am the Walrus" — the relentlessly upbeat, "Hello Goodbye", and the Lennon-McCartney collaboration "Baby, You're a Rich Man" (the first song recorded specifically for The Beatles' animated film Yellow Submarine, which would be released in theatres one year later). The LP concludes with Lennon's jaunty anthem "All You Need Is Love" — the centrepiece of the Our World satellite broadcast — which coincided with 1967's Summer of Love and encapsulated the sentiments of the flower power movement.
Release
When standardising The Beatles' releases for Compact Disc in the late 1980s, the American LP version (which was imported into the UK, peaked on the British album charts at #31 as an American import, and was issued by Parlophone Records in Britain in 1976) was included with the British album line-up instead of the British EP, with true stereo recordings replacing the earlier processed ones. (The true-stereo version of the Magical Mystery Tour LP was first issued in Germany in 1971, but the 1976 Parlophone issue used the Capitol masters with the fake stereo.) Capitol quietly reissued the Magical Mystery Tour LP using the German masters in the US with catalogue number C1-48061 in true stereo. The remaining Beatles non-LP single sides were compiled as Past Masters, Volume One and Past Masters, Volume Two.
Although the British version of the LP released in 1976 used the same fake stereo on the last three songs as the Capitol LP, it did feature “I am the Walrus” with the intro riff repeated six times rather than the American LP’s four times.
Track listing
All songs credited to Lennon/McCartney, except where noted.
Double EP release
Side one
- "Magical Mystery Tour" - 2:51
- Featuring Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall on percussion, David Mason, Elgar Howarth, Roy Copestake and John Wilbraham on trumpets.
- "Your Mother Should Know" - 2:29
Side two
- "I Am the Walrus" - 4:36
- Featuring Sidney Sax, Jack Rothstein, Ralph Elman, Andrew McGee, Jack Greene, Louis Stevens, John Jezzard and Jack Richards on violins, Lionel Ross, Eldon Fox, Brian Martin and Terry Weil on cellos and Neil Sanders, Tony Tunstall and Morris Miller on horns, Peggie Allen, Wendy Horan, Pat Whitmore, Jill Utting, June Day, Sylvia King, Irene King, G. Mallen, Fred Lucas, Mike Redway, John O'Neill, F. Dachtler, Allan Grant, D. Griffiths, J. Smith and J. Fraser on backing vocals.
Side three
- "The Fool on the Hill" - 3:00
- Featuring Christoper Taylor, Richard Taylor and Jack Ellory on flute.[4]
- John Lennon and George Harrison on harmonicas
- "Flying" (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey) - 2:16
Side four
- "Blue Jay Way" (Harrison) - 3:56
LP release
Side one
- "Magical Mystery Tour" – 2:51
- "The Fool on the Hill" – 3:00
- "Flying" (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey) – 2:16
- "Blue Jay Way" (Harrison) – 3:56
- "Your Mother Should Know" – 2:29
- "I Am the Walrus" – 4:36
Side two
- "Hello Goodbye" – 3:31
- Featuring Ken Essex, Leo Birnbaum on violas.
- "Strawberry Fields Forever" – 4:10
- Featuring Mal Evans on percussion, Tony Fisher, Greg Bowen, Derek Watkins and Stanley Roderick on trumpets and John Hall, Derek Simpson, Norman Jones on cellos.
- "Penny Lane" – 3:03
- Ray Swinfield, P. Goody, Manny Winters and Dennis Walton on flutes, Leon Calvert, Freddy Clayton, Bert Courtley and Duncan Campbell on trumpets, Dick Morgan and Mike Winfield on English horns, Frank Clarke on double bass and David Mason on piccolo trumpet.
- "Baby You're a Rich Man" – 3:03
- Featuring Eddie Kramer on vibraphone.
- "All You Need Is Love" – 3:48
- Featuring George Martin on piano, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Pattie Boyd Harrison, Jane Asher, Mike McCartney, Maureen Starkey, Graham Nash and wife, Gary Leeds and Hunter Davies on backing vocals, Sidney Sax, Patrick Halling, Eric Bowie and Jack Holmes on violins, Rex Morris and Don Honeywill on sax, David Mason and Stanley Woods on trumpets, Evan Watkins and Henry Spain on horns, Jack Emblow on accordion and Brian Martin on cello.
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | November 27, 1967 | Capitol Records | mono LP | MAL 2835 |
| stereo LP | SMAL 2835 | |||
| United Kingdom | December 8, 1967 | Parlophone | mono double EP | MMT 1-2 |
| stereo double EP | SMMT 1-2 | |||
| New Zealand | 1970 | World Record Club | LP | SLZ 8308 |
| United Kingdom | November 19, 1976 | Apple Records, Parlophone | LP | PCTC 255 |
| Worldwide reissue | August 8, 1987 | Apple, Parlophone, EMI | CD | CDP 7 48062 2 |
| Japan | March 11, 1998 | Toshiba-EMI | CD | TOCP 51124 |
| Japan | January 21, 2004 | Toshiba-EMI | Remastered LP | TOJP 60144 |
See also
- Magical Mystery Tour (film)
- The Magical Mystery Tour (coach trip)
References
- ↑ Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. pp. 368-369. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ↑ "The Beatles' Grammy and Academy and Emmy Award Nominations". abbeyrd.best.vwh.net. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
- ↑ "Strawberry Fields Forever". Rock and Pop Shop. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
- ↑ MacDonald, Ian (1994). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. New York: Henry Holt and Company. pp. 217-218. ISBN 0-8050-2780-7.
External links
- Beatles comments on each song
- Recording data and notes on mono/stereo mixes and remixes
- The real Blue Jay Way
| Preceded by Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. by The Monkees |
Billboard 200 number-one album January 6 - March 1, 1968 |
Succeeded by Blooming Hits by Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra |
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